Buckskin Gulch Day 1

There are going to be so many pictures. Sheri Beatty and Shelly Howard are part of a ladies backpacking group. I've wanted to go but always seemed to be too late to join in. Shelly found out that I wanted to be a part of a hike and when a new hike popped up, she messaged me and said she could get me in. Buckskin Gulch in the longest and deepest slot canyon in the SW United States and possibly the world. I accepted! Merril was jealous. Then I found out we were supposed to hike 13.7 miles in 1 day. Yikes! The dread set in. That's a lot of hiking for one day. Then we weren't sure if we'd be able to filter water so we had to pack in all our water. I packed 6 liters which comes out to about 14 pounds. My whole pack weighed in at around 34 pounds. Oi. That's a lot of weight for me too! When I backpack, Merril often carries the heavy stuff. I carry the popcorn and marshmallows. I'm also coming off an ankle injury. But I trained carefully and took deep breaths. I also asked Merril for a blessing! I needed mental strength and needed my body to work like it was supposed to. We drove out to Whitehouse campground the night before so we could get on the trail early. The night was cold but I had Merril's awesome warm and light sleeping bag! Then we shuttled over to Wire Pass trailhead and set out! Yep, I was cold!

Chauncey Turley was there!

This is our first obstacle. There are quite a few people that I knew! Roni Laub, Andrea Wittwer, Emily Lowe, Jenny Chamberlain, Treasa Anderson, Shelly Howard, and Nicole Stout. Some of the ladies went on the kayaking adventure back in June.

Sheri wanted the someone in this picture for scale.

Sheri and me.

Gorgeous, astounding views were around every single corner! I kept saying, "Wow! Look at that!"

The slot canyon was filled with clay, lots of deep clay.

Most of the clay was dry, we've hardly had any rain.

Lunch was amazing. 

Shelly pulls this amazing stunt with her husband on her shoulders! She is so strong! I've always thought it was the coolest picture. When she asked if anyone would climb on her shoulders for the picture, I hesitated. When no one jumped at it, I said I'd do it! That is scary and sketchy. I'm glad I didn't break a leg! 

Rocks in the cool clay!

Then the clay got wet!

And slimy! I lost my shoes in one pool and Roni was my savior! My feet were so down deep in the sticky clay in the middle of a pool that I couldn't move without losing my water shoes. Roni was able to hike past me, drop her pack and come back for mine. Then I was able to reach down into the stinky water and pull up my shoes. I ended up taking off my water shoes in a number of the sticky shoes.

 

The walls of the slot canyon were so tall and impressive. 

But towards the end of the first day, I was kind of over it. I was still moving along but I was ready for chilling at camp!

At the end of a long day, we finally made it to camp. I was so excited to lay around.

This was my view for the evening! How spectacular! I couldn't believe my legs had moved around 14 miles! Some ladies said it felt more like 15-16 miles. Shelly said it was a really hard day. When Shelly says that, you know it's been a REALLY HARD day!